Manhid The Pinoy Superhero Musical review

"Tao ngayon ba ay Manhid?"

I got to watch Manhid during its opening night at Nicanor Abelardo Hall(Main Theater) of CCP on the night of February 20. Manhid was created by Kanakan-Balintagos for UP Tropa Experimental Theater Group in U.P. back in 1991 when the not-yet famous Eraserheads was still in college and performed their own music for the production.

Ballet Philippines' Alexander Paul Morales directs this year's season ender. He was also part of the original cast. What made this production different, the blending of stage actors and ballet dancers. Some dancers are given speaking lines and sing. The actors are also given steps. It was an adjustment for the actors. Usually, they do the reading first than blocking. In the set of Manhid, they started with the choreography first.

The story is set in an alternate timeline where the EDSA uprising didn't succeed and the U.S. military bases are still here.  There are people who are suffering with the plague called Manhid(Apathy).But it brought in a new world that is not our own and it gave birth of 99 children with powers. The powers are not just thought of, they were given metaphoric meaning. My favorite power is Allusina's. When she swears, she kills. Allusina represents the anger of the masses. She was also from the slums.

Another favorite of mine is Radia Indarapatra, an actor with 1,000 faces. Fredison Lo played the part during the opening night. Also a comic book fan, he reads X-Men and compares his character as the male version of Mystique, a shape-shifter. The characters are also named with pre-colonial heroes like Lam-Ang. They are also rooted in Pre-Hispanic culture. Garigawen is a Babaylan, a shaman.

Sandino Martin as Bantugan in the clutches of Malyari played by Earl John Arisola.
Photo by Jojo Mamangun

There are many comparisons for the characters to compare it to popular superheroes. The story reminded me of the TV series Heroes but Manhid got to do it first. It also appears like a comic book panel on stage and it even had a climatic battle just like in major comic book arcs,

Here are my comments for the production. It need more choreographed fights in confrontations. My basis for this is the duel of Kenshin and Saito at the Kamiya dojo in the anime series Rurouni Kenshin. Their fight was so graceful that it seemed like they are both dancing. In real life, my best example is the Wushu practitioners.

The troops of the Minister of Humanity needs more gear like Kevlar vests and semi-automatic rifles than shotguns. It will look more authoritative. For the insect queen Urduja, her costume needs more insect-like wings to identify her. Her insect antenna-like crown is not enough.

Radioactive Sago did a wonderful score for the music of the production. Even though they have full brass instruments, you can still hear the Eraserheads influence of the music. Ely Buendia was present during the opening night and he admits it's the first time he seen it since he was part of the production. A couple of the original cast also were part of the production in cameo roles.

I brought my sister with me who is also a ballerina. She likes the choreography but the whole production is more musical with ballet chorus. Overall, it is a good production and it is ideal to comic book fans, political activists, or any fan in theater productions. I compared this story to Alan Moore's Watchmen and X-Men since both titles deals with real issues. Ballet Philippines should have more collaborative productions like this.  Today is the 29th year of the EDSA Uprising if you know what a revolution means. Most of the current generation are not aware of what happened back then. I was in the fourth grade when it all happened. For more theater reviews, like L.E.N.S. blogs on Facebook.